Telling her
by Ginger-lycan
Summary: The dreams started a few weeks ago, when she had asked him if there was something that was bothering him. He lied, she knew it but didn't press the matter, how could he tell her that he was a demon. First fan fic ever, R&R please I DON'T OWN NARUTO
1. 1 The Nightmare

"Normal Speech"

**"Kyubi speech"**

_'Thought'_

The sound of the static from the television set soon became too clear to just simply ignore for much longer, and soon enough, one eyelid slowly crept open, causing one cerulean blue eye to look at the fuzzy screen of the box. Closing his eye, the blonde, spiky haired male issued a groan to signal to anybody who might have been in the room, that he was now awake.

Giving sleep another attempt, the man waited for a whole minute until he opened his eye's again, finally giving in to the noise that had awoken him and continued to laugh at his attempts of ignorance, taking a hold of the back rest, he pulled himself up and swung his legs off couch to wind up sitting on the piece of furniture.

Spending a moment to glance around the room, his head stopped when his sight caught the clock hanging on the wall that showed it to be quarter past ten, "Oh, done it again" he stated to no one in particular as he mentioned that he had fallen asleep once more on the couch, instead of just going to bed with his wife in his arms. Looking to the coat rack, he saw the personalised version of his father's hokage cloak, which now belonged to him, as well as the position to go with it, next to it on the right was her large hooded jacket, the one she rarely wore these days, above the garments on the hand crafted coat rack, the words 'Naruto and Hinata' were placed above their owner's clothes

Grinning as he stood, the blonde sighed contentedly as his life came into view, for he had now achieved his dream, and was able to share the rest of his life with the most beautiful girl in town, his friends were all proud of him, as well as the group close enough for him to call a family. Leaning forward, the leaf village's leader switched his TV off before moving past the photographs that adorned the wall and headed to the top of the stairs, at least, that was until he smelt a scent he recognised all too well, blood.

Turning around, he scanned the living room but couldn't see where the scent was coming from and so took a step down from the wooden steps. Sniffing the air, he realised the smell grew slightly weaker as he moved into the room and so turned back to the stairs, 'only me and...' he stopped thinking as he realised who the blood could possibly belong to, "Hinata" he whispered before dashing up the stairs and moving to the master bedroom of the house.

Not bothering to slow down, the blonde barged through the wooden door with his shoulder and looked towards the bed. His eye's almost doubled in size as he looked upon the scene, he should have seen his wife completely snug in a cream coloured double duvet, right now, she was lying on top of the covers in the centre and her blood was soaking into the fabric, turning it into the liquid's own crimson colour.

"No" he whispered, his eye's beginning to form tears at the corners. Movement cause him to look away from the bed and stare at someone who was facing away from him, Naruto didn't bother to ready to go on the defensive, his eyes landed on the stranger's hands that were covered in blood.

"Who are you? Why did you kill Hinata?!" he demanded answers as rage began to boil inside of him, not caring at the moment if he lost control to ever present demon that resided in his body, but something in his mind nagged at him, telling him he didn't want the answer to the question he had just shouted out.

Laughter was the only response that he got, malicious and evil laughter. The stranger turned as his laugh died down to a low chuckle, revealing himself to be an almost exact copy of the hokage that stood before him, the differences between them were both slight and unmistakeable; his fingernails were slightly elongated and appeared to be sharper, as was the same with his canines that could be seen due to the smile he kept on his face. The larger differences were shown in his whisker mark scars, they were larger, giving them the appearance of there being more than just three and his eye's, they were the colour of blood with slits for pupils that held utter joy in the violent atmosphere of the room.

**"It wasn't me"** the stranger responded, grinning as Naruto thought he recognised the person in front of him and tried to wrack his brain on where he had seen the man before. "I'm going to ask one more time, who are you and why did you kill Hinata?!" the blonde demanded, wanting an answer as to who this copy was and wanting badly to know why he had taken his wife's life.

The grin remained as the answer came, **"It wasn't me... Kit**" realisation came as the name reached his ears. The blonde hokage knew there was only one place he ever got called that, back in the recesses of his mind, whenever he saw his tenant, "Kyubi" he spoke the name just above a whisper, reaching down to where the seal was on his stomach, "but, you're still inside me" he said, not looking at what appeared to be the demon fox as he glanced down and saw that his own hands were covered in blood. "But... That means" he spoke more to himself than the image of the demon before himself.

"N-Na..Ru..To" the gentle voice of the hokage's wife cut the tension between the two blonde men like a knife, Naruto turned to see the Hyuga heiress looking at him with her pale, lavender orbs. Her face showed the pain that she was feeling, as well as fear of him but her eyes were what hurt him the most, even though he had done this to her, she still loved him. "Why?" she managed to whisper out before taking her last breath.

"No" he spoke as the tears that had been forming began to fall, his knees threatened to give way underneath him, the Kyubi saw his chance and decided to give his jailor's mind the last little push it needed in order for himself to be completely free from the fleshy prison. **"You want the proof?"** the nine tailed demon fox spoke, not waiting for an answer from the biju and causing the blonde to see the entire event through their mind link.

"No" Naruto begged whatever being that watched over them that if there was some way to stop this, that they would pity him and reverse everything. He hadn't heard what the fox had told him and was brought out of his thoughts to watch the entire event take place, finally, his knees gave way and he knelt on the ground as the video clip in his head stopped and he was brought back into the room. He looked at his hands, seeing the blood that covered them was the final confirmation he needed, and the final break that the demon needed to be free.

"NO!"

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First Fan fic I've ever done, hope you like it, updates are possibly going to be monthly although I will try to shorten that time gap. Please Rate and Review as I would like help on the story and help on my writing skills


	2. 2 The morning after

Thanks to those that read the first installment of this story, and also to those that reviewed and favourited. Right about this story, there really is no plan as to where I'm taking this apart from the main plan of Naruto and Hinata being a couple so, really for other potential couple's, your going to have to give me some incentive as to who get's with who (potential pairing's will be at the bottom of this chapter for those interested in what might happen). Updates; Right for those that have read the first chapter and have been waiting for an update to this story, I'm sorry for the long wait but I never have been able to stick to one story for longer than say a few pages, also I'm a soldier within the British Army so updates are not going to be set to a time frame, especially considering at the moment they've been sending me here, there and everywhere. Anyway enough from me, I've just spent pretty much a whole day writing this out so hopefully you haven't been waiting too long for an update and thankfully I've remembered the disclaimer this time; I do NOT own Naruto

"Normal speech"  
_'thought'  
_**"Kyubi speech"  
_'Kyubi thought'_**

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"NO!" Naruto cried out as he awoke from the nightmare that had been plaguing him for the past few weeks, breathing heavily, the blonde looked around himself, finding that he was back in his own bed, in his own apartment without the hokage's robe hanging on the coat rack near the door, also, without her sleeping form next to him, or her jacket hanging next to his own.

Putting a hand to his heart, he felt it beating as if he had just been trying to run a hundred miles an hour. Slowing his breathing, the young man closed his eyes and began to calm himself, taking deep breaths for a few minutes until; finally, his heart began to beat at a steady rhythm. Looking back towards the door, he sighed as the image of the Kyubi standing in front of him with that malicious grin flashed through his head, he knew he had woken up from the nightmare from the state he was in, but the image had made him realise for what seemed like the hundredth time, that at any moment, he could lose control of the beast within him, and he prayed that he would be able to stop himself before he hurt those he loved.

Laying back down with his hands underneath the back of his head, the blonde closed his eyes and started to try and go back to sleep, at least until the alarm went off. Groaning loudly, he closed his eyes harder and pulled a pillow over his head to try to drown out the beeping, sadly it just muffled the sound to make it seem softer. Sighing heavily, Naruto let go of the pillow and slammed his fist down onto the machine, the dreams were making him cranky in the morning and so far, the alarm clock wasn't helping things since the screen cracked from his attack on it. Turning his head to look at the damage, the blonde took hold of the clock, _'You want to break, fine then break!'_he shouted inside his head before throwing the small plastic item at the furthest wall, watching as it contacted the surface and turned from one piece into ten, looking at the item Naruto roared as he realised he would have to buy a new alarm now and his funds were running a little low at the moment.

Then a memory hit him, and he realised why the alarm was waking him up at half past seven in the morning, he was supposed to be meeting Lee and Neji this morning for a sparring match. Sighing to himself, he threw the duvet from were it was covering his legs and walked over to his wardrobe. Opening the door, he took hold of a wire mesh t-shirt and put it on before taking hold of one of the orange and black jackets he always wore and inserted one of his arms before a gentle wrap of the door stopped him in his tracks, _'Why did I have to have visitor's now' _he groaned before finishing putting his jacket on. "Who is it?" he called out before zipping up the piece of clothing and walking slowly towards the door, "I-it's me... Hinata" she all but whispered out as the owner of the apartment came to the door, _'Why did she have to come.... Screw it, Neji and Bushy brow can wait'_ the male thought as he opened the door and smiled at the girl he was happy to call his own girlfriend.

Stepping aside so she could enter, "Hey Hinata-Hime, come on in" he stated as he waited for her to walk into the building, "N-naruto-kun, Neji-nii-san asked if y-you were s-still training this m-morning" the shy heiress stuttered out slowly as she took a few steps into the apartment. Naruto sighed, "Was just on my way there" he stated to her as she moved a step closer to him and reached out for his free hand, "Naruto-kun" she spoke his name softly, savouring the way he looked at her every time he heard, what he said to be, the sweetest sound in the village, "Is s-something wrong?" she enquired, the worry was evident in her eye's.

**_'Yes, I'm a demon with the power to rip you in half if you decide to dump me'_**the Kyubi stated before chuckling to himself, _'Will you shut up, I'm not in the mood for you this morning'_Naruto countered before returning back to reality, "Nah, just woke up on the wrong side of the bed" he answered before giving her a smile that didn't reassure her fully. "O-o.k" she let the conversation die since she didn't want to push him for an answer, he would tell her in time if he felt like it, but for now Hinata would just allow him to deal with whatever it was his own way.

"Hey" he spoke softly as he pulled the pale skinned girl towards him, wrapping his arms around her waist and planting a gentle kiss on her cheek as she blushed, she still couldn't get used to being kissed by him, especially since the last time he kissed her on the lips, Hinata's mind had decided to pick the moment to faint whilst she was in his arms and their lips locked together, ever since then Naruto had decided to keep it to a simple peck on the cheeks until her confidence improved. "I love you" he whispered to the beauty in his arms as she wrapped her own arms around his neck and buried her head into his chest, "I l-love you too, N-naruto" she answered him, noticing how he held onto a little tighter as she spoke his name.

"W-we should g-go, Neji and Lee a-are w-waiting" Hinata said, breaking the silence that had enveloped them as they stood in Naruto's doorway. The two broke away as Naruto locked his door before they walked hand in hand towards one of the many training grounds dotted around Konoha.

Thinking back to the nightmare as they walked, Naruto began to realise they had started shortly after the pair had finally became a couple, at first he hadn't realised it and just shrugged them off as bad dreams since he dreamt, at first, of killing off some of the villagers and then later the dreams went to Jiraiya, then Tsunade and within two weeks, he had dreamt of losing control and killing everyone who had ever meant something to him.

_'Guess I'm just going to have to speak to Granny Tsunade about this'_the blonde thought as the pair entered the training area where Lee and Neji were currently warming up, _'First things first though' _letting go of Hinata's hand, Naruto turned and gave her one more peck on the cheek before he began to stretch off. **"Oh, a little morning exercise I see"**the demon stated as it saw through it's jailor's eyes what was going on in the outside world, "You dare and I cut one of your tails off" Naruto answered as his eyes glazed over and he retreated into the recesses of his mind, **"You can't stop me brat!"**

"Watch me, if you think you can take this body over so easily then do it, right now!" Naruto shouted waiting a moment until it was obvious the Kyubi wasn't going to do anything, "Didn't think so" he spat before walking away from the bars that held the fox, **"Give it time kit, you'll be mine soon"**it responded, growling at the retreating form of his jinchuriki who stopped and looked over his shoulder, "Give it time demon, and I'll find a way to finally finish what my father started" he retorted before walking away from the prison, at least for now. Back to reality, Naruto realised Hinata looking over to him with, as usual, worry written all over her face, winking in her direction before turning to face Neji and Lee, he sighed to himself as he moved forward, _'Just don't lose control'_ he thought before getting to a safe enough distance where he could hear his two opponents.

"So you finally decided to show up, looks like your teacher is rubbing off on you" Neji spoke as Lee and himself got into their stances, Naruto remained stationary for a moment longer before deciding on what to do next. Thinking about whether he should challenge one and then the other, Naruto sighed as he remembered he was the one to ask whether they wanted to train together or not, therefore he wouldn't be able to change his mind just before the sparring match. Not speaking a word, the blonde ninja merely got into his stance, 'Let's get this over with' he thought to himself.

"Ready" Lee spoke, tensing up for a moment as he got ready to spring into action. "Set" Neji responded, copying Lee in tensing up. "Go" Naruto finished the count down as they all sprang forward.

* * *

I think that's enough for a second chapter, I was going to carry on and write the fight scene here but thinking about what I want to write, I'm starting to get the impression it would be better as a separate chapter. Thank you to all those who are watching this story, for your patience, but work has kept me a little busy as of late, moving me here, there and everywhere and I am sorry about the long wait for an update, especially when the first chapter didn't exactly give much away as to what was happening in the real world (although it isn't much anyway) I hope you enjoy this chapter, and review to inform me what you thought of it, whether you thought the character's were too ooc or whether you think I'm doing a good portrayal of them. If you are reading this story for the first time, then please review as I would like as much of your input, good or bad. I haven't even started working on the next chapter, but it will be done ASAP and for those impatient ones amongst you, please consider; it's the christmas period, and the fact that I'm a soldier so my work is pretty much my life, I'm on leave at the moment but don't expect a miracle to happen and it be ready in two weeks.


	3. 3 Decisions

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto

* * *

Hinata moved towards a tree and sat with her back against the wooden surface, leaning forward and wrappin her arms around her legs, resting her chin on her knees as she silently watched, keeping her Byakugan at bay and watching the entire match instead of the chakra flow of each combatant. She and the blonde had been pretty much inseperable since they had become an item, or at least, since it was made official. Her cheeks took on a rosy hue at the thought, they had been hiding it from everyone for almost a year before they had told them a week ago about the relationship, but although during that year, some people's suspicions rose about the two at that time, yet everyone was still surprised about the revelation nonetheless.

She smiled at the memory of their friend's faces, it was a memory that she wouldn't want replaced by anything and one she wouldn't be forgetting any time soon. The couple had spoken to each other before hand and decided that they had to tell people, especially with the rumours that were starting to circulate amongst the villagers.

_- ~ Three week ago ~ -_

Naruto had skipped out on food again before training with her, she could tell, after all he didn't smell of the sweet tasting meat broth that he always had without fail every time he walked into Ichiraku's ramen stand. This time however, he had brought a picnic basket with him, hiding it from her sight, or at least her normal vision before they had started another sparring session which they had been going at for almost an hour now. Hinata was feeling the drain on her chakra, as well as the fatigue in her muscles but she kept on regardless. Going through these sessions a few times a week was really helping her physical fitness, not that she was unfit, after all being one of the more active on duty females out of the Konoha twelve did help to keep in top form, although practicing with her secret boyfriend did help to improve what needed it and keep her skills at their peak performance.

Ringing from her left caught Naruto's attention and caused the blonde to turn his head, he smiled as he noticed that their planned sparring session had just finished, "Alright Hinata tim-" he didn't get to finish the sentence as the girl's palm contacted his chest, the chakra helping both to close off one of the tenketsu points along his skin and add enough force to send him into a nearby tree.

Hinata remained in her stance for a moment longer until she couldn't see the male come at her, dropping it and looking around the area, she noticed he hadn't gone anywhere and was in fact in the exact place he had landed in. Looking left, she noticed the clock's alarm had sounded, signalling the end of the match between the pair, Hinata's eyes widened as she realised that the blonde ninja could be hurt from that blow and rushed in the direction he had gone. "Naruto?" Hinata called out as she moved to a small clearing behind the tree he had gone through, deactivating her Byakugan in order to conserve at least some of her chakra, after all it wouldn't exactly do well for her to go down with chakra exhaustion during a training session, especially if it was a secret one. Taking in the area, she couldn't see the hyper active blonde anywhere "N-Naruto?" she called out again, _'I didn't hit him that hard, did I?'._

Looking around the area, Hinata took a few more steps forward until she heard something snap a little ways in front of her, taking a step backwards in a moment of hesitation, she stopped and shook her head with a scowl on her face. _'Come on Hinata, pull yourself together'_she began to berate herself as she got into her fighting stance, ready to defend herself should anything decide to attack. Seconds after that, the rustling stopped and a squirrel came out of the bushes causing the girl to breath a sigh of relief and shake her head, at least until a pair of arms came from behind her and wrapped themselves gently around her stomach. Hinata squeaked and jumped in surprise, turning around quickly to see Naruto so close that their noses were touching.

Naruto grinned his trademark foxy grin before giving her a quick kiss on the lips, it was nothing special but it sent a shiver through the female's body before she wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head against his chest. The moment was perfect, they both stood their with each other for what seemed like forever until the younger of the two spoke up, "I'm sorry"

"For what? That last hit was terrific, teaches me not to keep my eye's off of you"

"You're... N-not mad?"

Naruto chuckled before gently holding her chin with his thumb and forefinger, lifting her head so she was facing him, "I could never be mad at you Hinata-Hime" he whispered to her before lightly kissing her forehead as she looked down and began to blush at the suffix. Remaining there for a moment longer, Naruto's stomach rung out loudly in the silence, "ummm do you want to eat now?" he asked her, scratching the back of his head nervously whilst Hinata just giggled and nodded her head in agreement to his stomach's protests of hunger.

The pair moved towards a small river where, over the years, a miniature waterfall had developed and made a pond before the water rushed away deeper into the forest. Sitting close to the edge, Naruto unfolded the blanket and lay it down for the pair to sit on the floor before quickly setting up the food and offering the first piece to Hinata, she giggled before gently pushing it away. "Did I do something wrong?" Naruto asked as he wondered whether the lessons on manners and etiquette had been wasted, after all, if he was to become hokage as she believed he would be someday, then he was going to need to know how to act when performing customary duties such as meetings and speaking to the council members or, even worse, asking Hiashi for permission to see his daughter. Permission, the word always left a bad taste in his mouth whenever it came to the subject of the pair spending time together, whether it be as lovers or as friends, it always puzzled him to no end why someone should need to ask if they were allowed to see others, especially when they saw each other every day in passing on the streets of Konoha.

Hinata giggled, covering her mouth slightly before shaking her head, "No, you h-haven't done anything w-wrong" the stutter would always be present whenever she was around him, but over time, she had gotten better at controlling it so she could hold a conversation with the blonde, "It's just t-that I know how h-hungry you can get" she answered the question before turning to the waterfall and beginning to take in the beauty of the place. Naruto smiled before moving the rice ball towards his mouth, stopping an inch away from taking a bite of the item, he glanced at Hinata out of the corner of his eye and gently placed it down next to her hand before taking a replacement for himself and munching away at it.

Spending some time in comfortable silence, the pair ate away at the food that Naruto had bought that morning until Hinata looked towards the floor, "Naruto" she spoke quietly, as if fearing for anybody that might be sneaking up on them to listen in on the conversation, the blonde looked up and carried on eating the food that was already inside his mouth, "W-we need to t-talk" she finished just as the male swallowed the contents and looked quizzically at the female.

"What's wrong?"

"The v-village has been talking... A-about u-us" she stated, all the time looking at the floor since she didn't know what his reaction would be to what she was about to suggest.

"I know" the statement caught her off guard, Hinata to looked up to see him looking at the waterfall with an instant ramen packet in his hand, _'He never stops eating his ramen... I guess it was bound to end sooner or later, but why now!'_Hinata whined in her own head as she looked towards the pond, "I guess we can't carry on like this" Naruto spoke softly, not seeing Hinata's hand move to cover where her heart was underneath her jacket and skin, not seeing the slow crack that would soon appear if she heard those two simple words come out of his mouth.

"I know, w-which i-is w-why..." she couldn't do it, she didn't want to break up with him and it was killing her to have to utter the sentence about the pair going their seperate ways and remaining as friends. Friends, she had remained in that part of his life for too long and forgotten how it felt to just be someone he cared for like everyone else, instead of the one person she knew he would die protecting, no matter what the danger was.

"Sakura and Ino have organised a get together tonight" Naruto interjected before Hinata could carry on with her sentence, prolonging what the dark blue haired girl was expecting to be the end of their relationship. Naruto sighed, closing his eyes and looking towards Hinata "If you want, we'll tell them first tonight" he stated, causing the Hyuga heiress to snap her head in his direction and loosen the grip on her jacket, "Only if you want too" he reminded her, hoping she would want to come out about their relationship since keeping it a secret felt like a betrayal on his part and he was having trouble keeping his whereabouts a secret, especially since Sakura had almost come along with him on his supposed "meditation training trip" this morning and he was running out of excuses fast when it came to being late for team training exercises.

"Y-you mean..." Hinata was at a loss for words, she thought he was going to end their time together and instead, he was talking about dropping the entire charade and coming out to their friends, it wasn't as if they hadn't talked about it, after all, it was Hinata that asked Naruto if they could keep it a secret in case her father found out about it. She couldn't help it, a small tear found it's way past her eyes and moved down her cheek, it was one of joy that he wasn't breaking up with her and of the fact that they didn't have to hide the fact that they were going out anymore, but also one of sadness, how could she have thought he would finish with her because the villagers were talking about them, after all, Naruto had been under scrutiny from many of the villagers since he was a child so possible rumours of him and the Hyuga heiress being together might as well have been a poke in the stomach to him.

Naruto noticed the small tear and cupped the girl's cheek, lightly brushing away the tear with his thumb. "Hey, we won't do it if it makes you upset" the blondesaid, living up to his name of the number one knuckle headed ninja within the leaf village. Hinata giggled before moving closer and wrapping her arms around the males neck, resting her head on his chest causing the blonde to scratch his head in slight confusion as to what she was thinking and what had caused her to start to tear up, "So... Do you still want to keep it a secret or?" Naruto asked since she hadn't given him a definite answer as to what they were going to do tonight.

Hinata brought her head back a fraction so she could shake her head, "No, w-we should tell them f-first" she responded before resting her head against his chest again, feeling slightly relieved at the fact that they would be coming out about their relationship status, the only problem the pair had at the moment was how long it would be before Hiashi found out and decided to either meet Naruto, or break the relationship up by forcing the girl into an arranged marriage. But as always, Naruto had an answer for that as well as every other worry that the younger female "We'll deal with it when it comes up"

Some time later, after they had finished eating the food that Naruto had brought, soaked their feet in the water as well as splashed around the pond for a little while and gathered their things before relaxing by the lake in silence, Hinata had fallen asleep whilst sat in her boyfriend's lap with his arms around her. "Hey Hinata, what do you think Neji will do to me when he finds out?" Naruto asked, looking down to find the heiress with her eyes closed and un-conscious, "Hina-hime?" he spoke softly but got nothing except for the sound of her taking in air. Chuckling to himself he made to get up but stopped when he felt the girl's grip on his jacket become a little tighter, "I must be a good pillow" he said out loud to no one in particular before creating a clone and getting it to help him to his feet as well as gather what they had brought and take it back to his apartment whilst he made his way back to the village.

Walking towards the hospital since it was the closest building to him and the one he freuqented the most often after his missions, Naruto walked in and caught sight of Sakura working on a child's knee that looked to have been badly grazed. Smiling, he walked over to a gurney that was just behind her and gently placed Hinata onto the medical trolley, gently prying her grip from his jacket before gently brushing a strand of hair away from the girl's face. "Naruto" he tensed at the mention of his name, especially since he knew the tone all too well, "I haven't done anything" he defended himself, turning around and holding his hands up before Sakura pushed him aside, stopping mid step when she recognised the body on the trolley. The pink haired medical nin turned to where her partner was before having to turn to the door to catch the image of the blonde running out of the building's main door, she was about to shout for him to get back but stopped when a groan issued from Hinata, looking down and noticing her friend's eyes begin to open and look up before a thought ran through Sakura's head, smiling and crossing her arms.

"Sakura?"

"Hinata, can you explain to me why Naruto brought you here?"

"Umm.. W-well we, umm" Hinata began to blush as Sakura's mischievous grin spread across her face, "I was... T-training and I f-fell un-conscious" she lied, Sakura knew it but could tell the girl was pretty flustered and shy about being brought in by Naruto, sighing and leaving the questions for later, Sakura began to examine the girl in case she had in fact exhausted her chakra. Hinata sat and chatted to Sakura about some of the gossip and avoided anything about her and her boyfriend, only leaving an hour later as Sakura told her about the get together tonight, saying that she would be there before walking back to the Hyuga compound.

Walking back, Hinata had a smile that wouldn't be put away until she had to face her father about her choice as to who she was seeing, but it wasn't until she finally got home and made it to her room did she feel the small note in her pocket. Curiosity peaked, she took out the piece of paper and opened it to find the scruffy handwriting of her lover leaving her a message;

_I'll pick you up on the corner at seven x_

Smiling, Hinata took out her lilac dress and hung it outside of her wardrobe before jumping onto the bed and not wanting to wait for the night.

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FINALLY! Sorry I took so long with this but been busy with work and trying to sort a few things out with my room and with courses and such, anyway I'm not very good with fight scenes so went into a looking into the past chapter and this will carry on into the next chapter as you can probably guess, anyway for those that are interested I am working on another story, Naruto based and same main pairing but in a high school environment and in this time zone. Anyway, please rate and review and can you tell me which pairing you like better;

Sakura and Lee, or Sakura and a returned Sasuke? Please tell me since having trouble deciding.


	4. 4 Demon's return

Naruto unlocked the door to his new apartment, he had decided to buy the place, but as of yet, the only person who knew about him owning another home was Hinata and that was only because she had followed him the one time. The memory brought a smile to his face, ever since then she had come over in secret a few times and cooked for him; he shook his head before walking inside and heading straight to the kitchen, where his clone was putting away the stuff from the picnic basket. "Bout time you got here" the copy stated before turning around, leaning against the counter and folding his arms he began scanning the real blonde.

"What?" Naruto said before walking over to the table and pulling one of the high stools out to sit on, wincing a little as he sat on a sore spot he had acquired from the contact with the tree. The clone snickered at the reaction "guess she did hurt us" he said it in a matter of fact tone before disappearing in a puff of smoke, sending his memory of how he got home straight into the blonde's head.

Smiling, the teenager merely stood and walked over to one of the cupboards and looked to see whether he needed any supplies, after all he hadn't been out shopping for a little while; then again it never really felt right, going shopping with someone, and especially now that he was spending all of his time with Hinata, he went shopping once a month if he wasn't on any missions, of which lately, he hadn't been part of any.

Moving through the apartment and into his bedroom, the teenager began undressing; removing his jacket first and throwing it onto the floor by the bed, he began removing his black sleeveless shirt, stopping mid way when he heard a nock at the door. 'No one knows about this place, so who?' the knock came again before he could wonder as to who was asking for him.

Taking off his top and heading into the living room, Naruto walked towards the door, looking through the viewing hole he had, only to see no one outside. Moving back slightly, the young shinobi thought about the situation for a moment before unlocking his door and sticking his head outside, looking both way's before sighing and dropping his head, only to notice an envelope on the floor with his name on it. Smiling slightly, he wondered what was up now, after all Tsunade had pretty much left him be for a little while now, "Guess the holiday couldn't last forever" he said to himself before taking the note and walking back into his apartment.

Turning around as he came to the couch, the teenager allowed his body to drop onto the furniture, opening the letter in the process as he began to wonder what he was to do, sadly, like usual all it said was to report to the hokage the next morning. Sighing as he thought what the mission would be, he decided to ignore it for now, after all, he had tonight to worry about for starters. How was he going to tell everyone? Sakura was bound to punch him straight to the next village as well as berate him for not telling her about it in the first place, and then there was Ino, who knew most of the gossip that went around the village and was usually the one to start it whenever it concerned everyone within their group. Getting up from his couch, the blonde went into the bathroom and went about having a shower before deciding not to bother Hinata, he could get everything shopping himself.

* * *

Grinning to himself as he looked down at the paper in his hand, Naruto shook his head 'Guess she knew I wouldn't know what to get' he thought to himself as he had found a list of items for shopping Hinata had left him, she knew him too well by now, and even then it wouldn't have mattered since anyone who knew Naruto as well as his friends had a good picture of what he was like if it ever came down to him shopping for food.

Walking through the village in the clean clothes he had put on, Naruto first entered the grocery store, looking at the list of items he gathered it was going to take him all day to finish the shopping but he didn't mind, after all, if he did use shadow clones, then it could be done in just under an hour, then he wouldn't have anything to do for the day. Moving into the grocery store to start off with, he began picking out the items that his girlfriend had wrote down and headed to the checkout to pay before moving onto the next store.

Half an hour later, Naruto was done with the shopping, even doing some shopping for equipment that he needed to pick up such as some new sealing scrolls, kunai, smoke bombs and some of the usual stuff he had on his person during a mission. Sighing as he looked down at the list, he smiled when he saw the last item that was on the list, 'She must have put it on without realising it' he smiled about that fact, but it didn't mean he wasn't going to buy it, he would just leave it as a surprise for when they moved in together. The blonde shinobi began to blush at the thought of the dark haired beauty moving in with the village knuckle head, it wasn't going to happen, at least not soon and he hoped not the way it probably would end up being, he didn't want his girlfriend kicked out of her clan by the hierarchy just because none of them saw Naruto for what he was, a shinobi of Konoha.

Just as he was about to head on home, Naruto stopped when he saw Lee and Sakura walking out of the cinema together, his team mate with a smile plastered on her face and both hands behind her back, whilst Lee talked to her. Stopping for a moment in his tracks, the blonde smiled as he wondered how far the pair had gone with each other, especially since no one knew much about what was happening between the taijutsu and medical experts, deciding to hang around with the two for a short while he began heading in their direction before calling out. "Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted as he walked over to his comrades watching as she gently pushed Lee away so they weren't so close, the blonde had to surpress a laugh but not the grin that came across his face.

"Naruto, it is good to see you" Lee replied as he came closer, waving his bandaged hand before dropping it back to his side whilst Sakura realised who it was and thought about sending her team mate to the other side of the village, courtesy of one of her chakra induced punches, opting however for just greeting him. "Hey Naruto" she said as well before moving next to Lee's side and taking hold of his hand, he looked to her for a moment and smiled before turning back to Naruto, "Hey guys, what's up?" the blonde answered back before coming to a halt in front of them.

"Nothing, we just came out of the movies and are off for to get a bite to eat" the pink haired kunoichi stated as she glanced down to the bags in her team mates hand, "Umm, Naruto, do you know what you're buying there?" she asked, looking a little skeptical about his answer, especially since all she ever saw him eat was ramen. Naruto raised an eyebrow and looked down at the shopping bags in his hands, turning back to Sakura and Lee he replied "Yeah, the stuff thats on this list" he told her as she looked up with puzzlement written all over her face, "Who gave you a shopping list?" she asked curiously. "It was Hi-" the blonde caught himself before he said out loud that it was none other than the girlfriend he had been seeing for the better part of a year now, thinking fats he looked over to the Ichiraku's and pointed there "Him" he finished.

"Oh" Sakura said, wondering what had made him stop, and whether he was truly going to say the ramen shop owner, _'He's hiding something_' she thought before looking to Lee, "Well we're going to get something to eat, are you still coming tonight?" she asked as the couple moved down one of the streets, "Yeah I'll be there!" Naruto called back as they waved to him and soon became lost in the crowd of people. Sighing to himself in relief before making his way home, Naruto looked around quickly in case there was anyone nearby who might have listened a little closer to his conversation, although he didn't doubt that Sakura was suspicious about his answer, he made it back home without anymore talks with anyone he knew thankfully, keeping his mouth shut about his relationship status was starting to take it's toll on him.

* * *

Beginning to put the shopping away, Naruto sighed as he contemplated tonight, he was glad that the secrets were going to end, although he was happy with who he was with, he knew it would come down to this and knew it was going to be harder for them to be together when her family found out. Running around behind people's backs wasn't exactly his style, but for him to be with Hinata, he would endure, even if it was starting to wear him down a little mentaly, laughter echoed through his head as he thought about the many times he had to lie to his friends. Turning around, the blonde found himself in front of a cage with a seal on it, he didn't think he would have to come back here any time soon, then again, the demon fox that resided within him didn't exactly give the human much warning as to when he would speak to his host.

"What do you want" Naruto spoke, he was never in the mood to speak to the thing inside of him, although he did use it's power every now and then but lately, he hadn't seen the need for it, the only time it came in handy was whenever he got injured a lot more than usual, and that was something he didn't have control over anyway. "**My my, someone's touchy aren't they**" it replied, grinning through the bars of it's prison "**So, how is your control these days?**" it spoke, amused at the fact that Naruto hadn't even thought about him for so long, yet one moment of their eyes meeting and the blonde was ready to kill. "Good enough to ignore you for a lot longer the next time" the blonde kept his cool, only showing a hint of anger within his words as he made to walk away "**You can't ignore me forever kit**" the fox growled as it held it's grin, Naruto stopped and looked over his shoulder at the animal, "Watch me".

Coming back to reality, the blonde breathed out deeply through his nose before beginning to pack the shopping away, although the fox didn't bother him that much, the fact that Hinata still didn't know about it was something he'd tried to avoid thinking about, yet this encounter brought it home to him. How could he tell her? What would she do when she found out? Would she leave him? Would the torment begin all over again, after all the Hyuga family had to be one of the most influential within the village. Shaking his head as he put the last item in the fridge, Naruto walked into his own bedroom and caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, walking backwards and looking at the glass, the teenager walked up to it. Placing his hands on either side of the wall it hung from, he looked at himself, concentrating on his eyes as he saw his image change from what he was now to how he looked when the fox took over; his eyes changed from their usual blue to a deep red, the pupils becoming slits as the mirror of him grinned to show off the sharpened teeth, his hair became more unruly as small pieces of his face peeled off and showed red underneath them. Becoming angrier at the fact that he held something inside him he had no control of, Naruto's hands began to turn into fists.

"**You can't stop me**" The image stated as it laughed in his face, Naruto was passed the edge now, bringing one fist back to his face quickly before sending it forward into the glass, "SHUT UP!" the roar came as his skin contacted the surface and shattered the entire mirror.

* * *

And that's it, sorry for taking almost... Think it's close to a year now :P since the last update, but had major writers block, thank you to all those that will still read this and have been gods among people with patience, I do hope to hear your thoughts on this chapter which, to be quiet honest, didn't go the way I expected it to. This chapter, originally was going to be the night of the dinner with Hinata and Naruto telling everyone of their relationship, then it went from that to both their teams getting a mission and having to see Tsunade due to her organising a meeting with them the same time as the dinner, and now it's exactly as you see it :s tallk about round and round in circles.  
One VERY special thank you to Number1Weirdo for an idea on how I can continue the story after the dinner, especially since I needed a small idea to think of, something was in the back of my head but I owe you for smacking me with a wet fish to realise what it was hehe :P, although I have to say, sorry but no SasuSaku on this one, but look to my other stories in... Possibly six months to a year's time due to me not being able to come on here after another three weeks to update, but do not fret, I do have EVERY intention of coming back and finishing this as well as my other three stories, and for those X-Men fans, I intend to upload that Pyro story I talked about in my profile.

P.S; this is still in the time looking back as stated in the previous chapter and I do NOT own Naruto, cause if I did then the knuckle head would have spoken to Hinata by now :/


	5. 5 Dinner and news

"Talking"

_'Thinking'_

**"Fox"**

**- x -**

Walking to their usual meeting spot whenever it was dark, Hinata would have seemed to glide, if it wasn't for the two inch gap that made sure the dress wasn't getting dirty from the ground. She smiled and blushed a little as she looked to the floor and thought about how it had all come down to this, for all she knew, she was dreaming, yet every time she pinched herself, it still didn't occur to her that what had happened was fate, she just considered herself lucky for the moment.

Moving closer to the corner where her boyfriend would be soon enough, the girl couldn't help but smile at the two words she could put together, her boyfriend, not; her best friend, her good friend or her team mate, no, Naruto Uzumaki was currently dating Hinata Hyuga. Placing her hands on her cheeks as she felt her face warm at the thought, the dark haired beauty didn't realise that one of her friend's was approaching her until a hand was waved in front of her face.

"Earth to Hinata" the brown haired girl stated, leaning in front of the heiress who made a small surprised squeak when she came back to her senses, placing a hand over her mouth after she heard the sound. Ten ten merely giggled at her friend's antics and smiled, "Welcome back" she spoke softly and moved a step back to get a good look at how the shy girl appeared, "You look amazing" the weapons specialist stated.

"T-thank you Ten-ten, you look beautiful y-yourself"

"Thanks, so what's up? You seemed a little distracted a moment ago"

Hinata stopped for a moment again before walking alongside with her friend, she was now at the meeting point that her and Naruto usually went to, "N-nothing, I j-just have a lot going on a-at home" the lie wasn't a good one, especially since Neji and her had started dating so she would know if something at home was going on. Ten-ten looked to her with a cocked eyebrow before sighing, "Hina, you don't have to lie about it, if you don't want to talk about it then it's alright" Ten-ten answered as the pair had now stopped. The heiress looked down, a small part of her ashamed at herself that she lied to one of her friends, she now knew why her boyfriend had suggested telling people, after all, this was one of the rare times that anybody had asked her about something that had to do with their current secret, whereas Naruto had been asked countless times already.

Bowing to her friend, Hinata closed her eyes "I'm sorry, but all will be revealed tonight, I promise" she spoke before returning to her full height and looking to the smiling face of her friend. Ten-ten waved off the apology "It's alright, it's just you looked… Happy" she stated before taking a few steps away, turning when she realised that Hinata wasn't following her yet, instead she was standing there, her hands placed over her blushing cheeks with a smile on her face.

"Well, are you coming?" Ten-ten stated as she interlocked her arm with Hinata's, before the heiress could protest, slowly making her walk towards their destination, looking over her shoulder as Ten-ten spoke about something Neji had told her earlier, looking with a small show of guilt and sorrow at the spot where her boyfriend was meant to pick her up from.

_'I'm sorry, Naruto-kun'_

* * *

Looking down to his now wrapped hand, the blonde haired leaf nin sighed, how was he going to explain this one to Hinata, or anybody who asked for that matter. Shrugging the problem off now for later, he grabbed hold of his jacket and headed towards the couples usual night meeting spot, wondering whether or not he was late, he couldn't remember what time he had told Hinata he would pick her up at and was berating himself all afternoon about it. Hoping now he wasn't making her wait too long, after all he hadn't been the best at time keeping, even though he had set the time himself, although he had been getting better with it, what with trying to keep his relationship a secret and making it on time to team training and assignments, 'Keeping this a secret has been hard' he thought to himself as he smiled at the memories that were now running through his head like a movie reel.

Making it to the meeting place without actually thinking about it, Naruto came out of his day dream and looked around, only to notice that he was the only person there. Looking around for a moment, he shrugged and waited to see if Hinata had been held up by anything, after all; her father had held her up before when they planned on meeting up, although that was only the one time, this time was different, he knew she wouldn't have let him hold her up for this night, especially with what the couple had planned. Five minutes had gone by when he sighed to himself and decided to walk to the dinner, thinking about what could have caused her to be held up, or worse; change her mind.

Walking quickly to the restaraunt that Sakura and Ino had decided on their meeting, Naruto stopped at the end of the alleyway when he caught sight of Hinata arm in arm with Ten-ten. Cocking an eyebrow as he wondered about the situation, his mood brightened when he saw his girlfriend look behind herself in the direction of where they had come from, _'Guess someone got dragged along'_he thought to himself before walking towards the pair, only to hold himself back for a moment. Watching the small scene unfold in front of him, he decided to wait for everyone else to come along, after all, he wanted to show his girlfriend how much he loved her, why not do it in front of everyone, that would be a shock to them, at least thats what he thought he could do, after all he never really thought much ahead.

* * *

Sakura had greeted everyone who had arrived, or rather everyone except for her team mate, _'Where is he!' _she stormed in her own head, looking to the entrance one more time before shaking her head and looking back to the table to join in with the conversation, at least only to notice Hinata looking to the entrance as well, worry written on her face. Hinata hadn't been paying attention to the conversation much, so when Sakura had started to address her, the heiress didn't know what to say or do to respond, at least when she finally got tapped on the shoulder to bring her out of her own little world. "Hey Hinata, is everything alright?" Sakura asked as some of the people at their end of the table had stopped eating for a moment and were looking to her, "I-i'm fine Sakura, j-just a l-little concerned for N-Naruto-kun" she spoke as softly as she always did, by the end of the sentence she was looking down to the rice balls on her plate.

Ino smiled, seeing the heiress' cheeks start to turn with her blushing, "Don't worry, he might not be on time, but there's no way he'll miss seeing you in that dress" the blonde stated, sending a wink Hinata's way, causing her blush to deepen. Sakura looked to her rival with a smile, "Well, he's already learnt how to carry her" she stated before Ten ten heard the conversation and decided on jumping in herself, "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, Hinata was brought by the knuckle head to the hospital today" the medic informed all who would care to listen, standing to give a demonstration of how Naruto had held onto Hinata when she was brought in that afternoon. Hinata merely covered her cheeks before looking to the table in an attempt to hide her blush, although she knew it was pretty much worthless, especially since the couple were due to announce their status to everyone, that was if he turned up. The thought ran through her head faster than she wanted it to, and so shaking her head slightly, she looked up with a brave face and smiled, placing her hands on her cheeks to feel how hot her face was, "He will turn up... He has to" she whispered before feeling a small breeze flow past her back.

Walking through the entrance of the building, Naruto looked around for a moment, scratching his head whilst he kept one hand behind his back, _'I'm sure this was the place' _he thought before sighing to himself, thinking he had walked into a different restaurant. Turning to walk back through the entrance only to catch sight of Hinata sat down with an empty seat next to her, smiling as he took one pace forward, the blonde cringed when he caught Sakura's glare, stopping where he was and waiting for the reprimand that was coming. The pink haired team mate of his stood up and stormed over to him, placing her fists on her hips before speaking, "Where have you been! We've all been waiting for you to come for almost half an hour! Why didn't you let someone know you were going to be late!" the rant was something Naruto was used to, but he didn't want to be sent to the other end of the village tonight and so, he merely decided on being smart - for a change - and kept his mouth shut.

"Now, get your butt over there and sit down, then we can all finally order something to eat!"

"Yes Sakura-chan"

Hinata couldn't help but giggle, his voice was low but audible to everyone, they all knew that he wouldn't dare stand up to Tsunade's apprentice, even if it was a shadow clone that he had sent in first. Turning to face the table, Hinata began to poke her index fingers together as he walked over, the seat next to her was the only seat available now since the girls had made sure to force the pair to sit together, _'I hope no one is angry'_the shy girl thought until she looked up to her boyfriend and smiled. Naruto returned the smile until he was stopped by Sakura's voice, "Naruto, flowers aren't going to turn this around" she said, spoiling the male's surprise for Hinata, as well as his opening on their announcement, his eye twitching as he opened and closed his fist that was behind his back, only to find there weren't any flowers in his grasp.

Sakura held the flowers and walked back to the table, past a deflated Naruto who merely looked to the floor, whispering to himself "They weren't for you" Sakura caught the comment and stopped, bending down to his level. "Then who were they for?" she asked, teasing slightly since she wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on, he had been arriving either at the same time as Kakashi to their latest training sessions, or halfway into them and the excuses were wearing thin, especially since he had come up with some lame ones lately but it didn't help when he would arrive and seem as if he had just gone through a war. Watching his reaction carefully for any signs, the blonde didn't give any off except to stand up, sigh and walk towards Hinata, confusion was something he normally didn't cause, but everyone who was watching now wanted to know, what was going on here.

"Everyone, I've got an announcement to make" The table fell silent as they watched him stand next to Hinata, who then stood beside him.

"Umm, w-we have a-an announcement"

"Oh yeah, sorry hehe"

The group around the table merely looked to one another for an explanation, Sakura shrugged when Ino looked to her before the rivals both looked to Ten-ten, who merely repeated the action. The male's of the table looked on, only Kiba looked to Shino who didn't answer his team mate's questioning look, for he and Shikamaru knew that they would all be told the news that had been circling, were in fact, true.

"W-well, umm" Hinata didn't know where to begin, after all it wasn't as easy, at least to her, to just turn around to everyone they knew and inform them that they had been lying about their status, they had kept it a secret for so long, it seemed as though they were never going to let anybody know.

"M-me and N-Naruto-kun are..."

Her cheeks burned and felt as though they were going to melt her face, she placed both her hands on them to try and cover up the red patches that were sure to be there. Naruto smiled as he watched Hinata try and break the news, even though she had made small leaps compared to how she was before, she still couldn't say it though. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he moved to stand behind the heiress, both as support for her, but also as protection against anything Sakura might decide to throw at him.

"Kind of together, as in going out"

The table was silent for a moment before the females grabbed Hinata, not giving her the chance to faint from the fact that the couple had just announced to everyone that they were officially together. Naruto smiled as the three women began asking his girlfriend questions on the topic, Kiba offered his arm to Naruto who took hold and made to shake, only to be pulled in and whispered to by the dog lover, "Congratulations, but just know, if you hurt her-" the blonde knew what was going to be said, after all, he would do the same for Sakura, the only problem was she was going out with Lee, the nicest person anybody knew, it was also a bit hard to try and threaten a taijutsu user who could take you down in two seconds before you even knew the fight had began, "-And me and Shino will come after you" the pair parted, Naruto merely nodding to both of Hinata's team mates before turning to the others. Choji stood before everyone and smiled.

"Congratulations to Naruto and Hinata, now may we eat to celebrate their coming together?"

With this, the table laughed and began to order.

* * *

**"About time" I can already here you guys saying it, well sorry but not exactly the most up to date person in the world, especially when work is pretty much taking up most of my time as well as causing me to run around in circles :/. Usual talk; please rate and review, let me know what you think, what you would like to see and where you would like it to go, anyway hope you enjoy reading it, and sorry for the wait (not gonna change much so don't expect much of a faster update) oh yeah, as always; Don't own Naruto, thankfully**


	6. 6 Mission time

"Talking"

_"Thinking"_

**"Fox"**

I, do NOT own, Naruto

* * *

Naruto stood and looked out of his apartment window, currently standing in his old home, the blonde smiled as he gazed upon the sight of his village basking in the morning light of the sun. He sighed, knowing something was coming, he didn't know what, but he felt it, it might have been due to the announcement he and his girlfriend had made.

Girlfriend, the word was alien to him, as he hadn't experienced this kind of love before, nor the love of a parent, at least that he knew of anyway, after all, how can you experience something from someone who died when you were but a baby. Turning back into the room, the blonde walked towards the door, reaching out with his hand but pausing before his palm contacted the metal of the handle. Looking around himself, he found he was in the sewers of his mind, in front of the cage that held back the demon within, he hadn't come here of his own accord, and so he looked through the bars and into the blackness.

**"Someone's nervous, or is it regret I sense"**

"What do you want?" The words came out as a sneer, his anger at being called by such an entity, it was his own body, and someday, he'd find a way to make the monster's energy his own, get rid of the damn thing, or die. **"I was just enjoying the lie that you're telling that girl"** the demon responded to the question, it's snout showing through the little light that poured into the cage.

The blonde gritted his teeth and tightened his hands into fists as he listened, he couldn't deny it either, he knew he wasn't telling Hinata everything, especially the truth about why the villagers hated him, but then how could he, she was the best thing that happened to him. Turning to leave, he closed his eyes, trying to block out the fox.

**"You can't just get rid of me that easy"**

"Shut up"

The sound of knocking brought the ninja out of his mind and back into the real word, he was stood in front of his door, with someone on the other side knocking, "Naruto! Open this door or you'll be paying for a new one!" Sakura's voice could be heard from the other side, his team mate must have come looking for him, but to what end, he didn't know, he didn't have any training planned with her or anything else for that matter. Sighing to himself, he shook his head, trying to rid himself of the thoughts from the small conversation he just had.

Taking a moment to breathe and get his head straight, he unlocked the door and opened it with a smile, "Hey Sa.." cutting himself off, he noticed the girl stood in front of his door wasn't Sakura, but his now official girlfriend. "Hey beautiful" Naruto stated quietly to her with a smaller smile, one of his true one's that he gave to her, something she had picked up on during their secret meetings. Hinata blushed, especially since Naruto had said it in front of his team mate, "Run" she said quickly to him causing the blonde to become confused, at least until a fist that contacted his head sent his body straight to the ground.

* * *

Walking now with the girls, Naruto was still in a small daze as he rubbed his head.

_'Note to self, listen to your girlfriend'_

Looking to the blonde next to her, Hinata's cheeks held a slight red since the pair were currently walking down one of the main streets towards the hokage tower, hand in hand. She didn't have to use her byakugan to know some people were staring at them, but it didn't matter, Naruto would always tell her not to worry about what other people thought of them, she just wondered how long it would be before someone intervened. Turning to the girl in his arms, the blonde stopped walking and stood in front of the heiress for a moment, wrapping his arms around her body as her body bumped into his, bringing her back to reality, and making her cheeks turn from a slight pink to a full blush.

"Don't worry, everything's going to be alright" he whispered into her ear as the pair stood there in the middle of the street, Sakura had walked on a little until she realised she was on her own, turning to scold her team mate, the medic stopped herself when the sight of the couple in their current position made a smile appear on her face.

_'Naruto the romantic, who knew'_

* * *

Making it to the hokage tower after the couple had broken their moment together, the three headed towards Tsunade's office, walking in after Shizune said hello to the three, Naruto kept hold of Hinata's hand as they entered the room. The blonde woman looked up at the trio entering the room, her hands held together, covering her mouth as she gazed at Naruto who entered last, his cheery demeanour not surprising her, but giving her some displeasure at what she was about to say.

"Hey, Baa-chan"

"Naruto, please close the door"

Said blonde blinked and realised that the three weren't the only one's inside, quickly glancing around, he noted that all of the people he had worked with at least once in his time as a ninja were there, surprised at hearing his old sensei's voice, the knuckle head ninja, as he was called did exactly what was asked of him for once. _'Hinata must be rubbing off on him a little'_ Kakashi thought as he smiled underneath his mask, glad that one of his students was gaining some stability in his life and becoming a man, but remained in the same state as the hokage. Silence began to fill the room until Naruto decided to ask the question that was on everyone's mind.

"So, what's up?"

Tsunade looked down to the file that lay on her desk in front of her, wondering about how this would affect, not only the group of people in front of her, but the entire village, as well as the man she would hopefully choose to take over her role as hokage one day. Looking at each individual as she spoke their name's, her eyes resting on the last two remaining members of Team Seven once she had spoken to all of them.

"I have a mission that is of top priority, which I believe, only you twelve can possibly complete"

Silence filled the room as they all waited for the detail.

"There has been information passed onto the village that a group of criminals, lead by a rouge ninja has been spotted within the fire nation. You are to find his possible location, apprehend or kill the leader and his group, for this mission, Hatake Kakashi will lead the party, Shikimaru Nara will be his second in command for the duration of the mission. Should location of this criminal be unsuccessful, then the mission will be aborted, you have two weeks to accomplish this mission."

The team remained silent, waiting for anything else to be passed over to them, after a few moments of quiet it appeared clear to them that their initial briefing was now over. "Excuse me, hokage-sama, but who is the criminal that we are to locate?" Sakura asked, since everyone else had remained silent, guessing that her old sensei and Shikimaru already knew and no one else dared ask, after all, it wasn't everyday the leader of the village asked a group of ninja of their level to take down a rogue ninja who, by the sounds of it, was currently in the bingo book.

Kakashi closed his eyes as he waited for their reaction. Tsunade looked directly into Naruto's eyes as she spoke the name.

"Sasuke Uchiha"

* * *

Small update chapter for you, hopefully you shall like it, don't ask why it's so small, couldn't really think of anything else to add to it and didn't want to keep you guys waiting any longer than you already have been, yes I know, still taking a while for the updates and I'm sorry about that, but got a few problems that are dragging along at the moment, hopefully they won't get in the way too much, oh yeah on another note; shoul I never update again, might mean I'm dead since I'm starting free fall parachuting, should the worst happen you will all be informed and the story will sadly then be stopped. But don't worry, shouldn't happen ;). Same as usual; REVIEWS PLEASE PEOPLE!

Ginge


	7. 7 Getting Ready

Looking around the small walk in wardrobe he used to store his equipment, Naruto's mood hadn't changed for the better since he left the office, taking a number of kunai from one of the shelves and placing them inside his holster, he was already packed for the mission since he had started preparing himself a lot better ever since he and Hinata had gotten together. How he was ever ready for missions on time before he never knew, now he kept a bag ready for quick missions at all times, even know he had tried making a larger one for longer missions; sadly his concentration usually left him when he tried preparing the bag in his spare time and it got left until the last moment.

Turning around to take in the view of his room, he walked around and made sure he had everything, before walking to a small chest and taking out the headband he had been carrying for years now. Looking at the object in his hand, thoughts running back to the memories from when he made Sakura the promise, through the numerous meetings he had with the rogue nin, and stopped when he heard the snicker of the demon within.

**"Someone still has feelings for the enemy…. Weakling"** the fox growled the last part as Naruto looked up and into the blackness of the cage that inhabited their usual meeting spot, already feeling upset, the fox's voice, being and words started to push him to his limit. Gritting his teeth, Naruto's fists tightened for a moment until he saw the creatures snout push it's way between the bars, **"That's it kit, become anger, because truthfully, what can you do about the predicament you are in"**

"Shut up"

**"What are you going to do about me being in here, nothing, just like how you did nothing to stop your supposed 'friend' from leaving"**

"Shut up"

Grinning at the intent he felt from the boy, the fox wondered how long he could keep it up, after all, the demon only needed one moment of weakness, one small opening and he could make the boy set him free. To the fox, the Jinchurki was easy to manipulate into letting some of the biju's power free without noticing it, anger was the key, something that the nine tails knew since most considered him just a being of malice. Naruto felt himself boiling over, wanting nothing more than to shut it up, but before he could say anything in return, something in the real world brought him back to his senses.

Looking up, he saw Hinata just walking to the entrance to his room, "Hime?" he was a little surprised to see her, especially since he was sure that they didn't have to meet up with everyone until at least another hour. Not uttering a word, the girl merely looked at her boyfriend for a few seconds before walking over and wrapping her arms around him, resting her head on his chest and listening to his slightly quickened heart beat.

"Talk to me"

Barely audible, even to himself when he was this close to her, the knuckle head wrapped his own arms around her waist and looked to the Hyuga heiress with confusion running through his head, until the impossible dawned on him. She had found out.

_'It's not possible, how could she have?'_

**_'Let's see what happens now, kit'_**

Gritting his teeth and trying not to tighten his hands into fists, Naruto took a breath before speaking with his - for now - girlfriend, "What do you mean?" he asked a little too calmly for himself, Hinata took a step back in order to look into Naruto's face. "I know you're not happy with the mission" she spoke plainly, even when they were this close, she was getting bettter and more confident, sadly right now all she wanted was for him to do the same and just talk to her, "Talk to me" she repeated before going back to her original position with her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

Naruto merely sighed, relieved a little at the subject she was reffering to, it was easier to talk about the mission than the guest inside his own body. That talk was one he didn't want to have, and possibly would never want to have if it meant losing her, wrapping his arms a little more tightly around her frame, the blonde merely rested his head on top of the heiress' for a moment. Keeping his eyes closed for the moment that they were having, Naruto finally opened them slowly and tried to think on how he was actually feeling about the mission.

"He's... Was, my best friend Hinata... He was the brother I never had"

Listening to him, Hinata couldn't look at his eyes, for she knew they would hold something alien that personally, she thought didn't belong inside of him; despair and hoplesness didn't have a place in his heart, it was those emotions that didn't get shown to everyone, only her. The couple held each other for a moment longer before Hinata broke the silence this time.

"Hope. It's what we hold onto when everything else seem's to be lost"

Hearing her words, the blonde merely stayed where he was and waited for the woman in his arms to continue.

"I believe in you, and I know you will do what it takes to help him, but you will also do what it takes to protect this village"

The meaning confused him, after all; he truly didn't believe he could do both, save Sasuke and protect the village, one would have to be sacrificed for the other, it was a fact he hadn't resigned himself over to yet. Now the realisation that the choice may lie with him was starting to dawn on him, ever since he had argued his case with the hokage in front of everyone, no one else wished to do it either, but it was their duty to the village to protect it's people, even if it meant killing an ex team mate. Yet the thing that made the point clear was the fact that, he was the only one to argue against killing the rogue ninja, not even Sakura had made a plea to stop them from finishing Sasuke off.

_'Am I the last one to believe he can be saved?'_

The thought came after he had walked back to his home, now he didn't know what to do about their situation, reason was something that neither he nor the last Uchiha listened much to. Sighing as he held onto the female a little tighter, whispering to her a thank you before kissing her lips gently, when the two parted Hinata merely smiled, she didn't know what she had done but her words must have called out to him somehow. Naruto still wasn't happy with the mission, but he knew now that it was up to him to decide the fate of the last remaining Uchiha.

Getting back to packing the last few items, the blonde turned to his girlfriend and cocked an eyebrow, she giggled in return before answering the question.

"I've already finished packing"

Just as she finished her sentence, a knock at the door drew both of their attention, Hinata stood and walked out of the room to answer it whilst Naruto finished everything and slung his bag over his shoulder. Moving into the main part of the house, he could hear Sakura's voice and groaned in his head, thinking why couldn't it have lasted a little longer, the peace was sometimes a good thing for him to come back to, especially if no one knew where he lived.

_'Guess it couldn't last forever'_

With that, he moved into view of Sakura and smiled before the three made their way to the main gate, where everyone else would be waiting shortly.

* * *

And that's enough for another chapter, yeah I know not much here but thought it was about time you guys got another one, especially if you're as patient as I think you are. Nothing really to mention apart from please rate and review. Hope I don't get too many punches or slaps for taking so long.


	8. 8 Something's wrong

Kakashi had stayed behind with Shikimaru in the small apartment that they were using as their temporary base of operations, Shino remained behind, his contract with insects enabled him to not only act as an early warning indicator, should an enemy attempt to pose as one of their own team, but it allowed him to send out his own search teams and have them report back every so often. Looking to the young strategist who hovered over a map of the village and the surrounding area, he watched as the young jonin scanned one particular area just outside of the village and its surrounding forest, a part of the road they had used to find the area cut through it.

"What can you see?"

"Seeing if there's a possibility of another place to hide"

Knocking at the door brought their attention from the map and to the face of their other two companions, looking for any hint that it could be an enemy, Shino merely looked back and nodded with a thumbs up before Kakashi returned the gesture, signalling him to open the door and allow the first of the three teams that he had sent out back into the main room of the apartment. Tenten, Neji and Lee walked in through the door and walked up to Kakashi who stood nearby his second in command, Neji explained about them not finding any trace of the missing nin they had been tasked with searching for and he sighed, this wasn't a simple task they were undertaking, and each team was given someone who could find in some way, beyond a shadow of a doubt, whether Sasuke was in the village. Dismissing them for the moment and letting them rest before going back out again later on, he awaited the arrival of the next team.

"Possibility of them moving from location to location?"

"Not likely, they would have left even a little bit of a trace behind, the trace may have been faint but enough for one of our trackers to pick it up."

Looking over to the door, Shikimaru nodded in Shino's direction, "Shino's bugs would have found a camp site at the same time, there's not exactly a lot of room to manoeuvre without attracting some of the wildlife's attention" Kakashi gathered there was barely any chance of finding the trail, after all this wasn't some rogue ninja that would slip up at some point. Sasuke wanted to be found when the information got back to Konoha, but why? What would he gain by drawing out the eleven ninja who worked alongside him, or was he expecting a smaller force, maybe he had a spy inside the village reporting back to him, it was an unlikely thought, who would the Uchiha trust outside of the team he used. The next team reporting back knocked on the door; Shino again gave the older shinobi the sign to let him know that it was one of them and so opened the door to allow Kiba, Chouji and Ino inside.

Kiba gave the same report, not being able to find a scent anywhere inside or outside of the village, "Hiding your scent isn't the easiest thing to do, he would have to know we'd be used to find him" the comment wasn't unexpected, after all, if someone did recognise Sasuke then he would have to assume some search party would be after him, but to know exactly who would be sent would have to mean two different possibilities; the first that he had a sensor in his team, or the second being that someone inside Konoha knew of his whereabouts and was keeping him informed. However unlikely it was, it was still an option to investigate.

Taking a moment to think about the situation, he looked back to Shikimaru who had folded the map up, and put it inside his backpack. They only had another week to keep looking, even though it was starting to look as if they weren't going to achieve their goal, one of the task force would do whatever he could to keep them searching. The older ninja sighed as he sat down in front of his strategist.

"Your opinion?"

"Honestly, he's not here, if he was then it was planned to draw us out of Konoha"

"But how would he know the hokage would send us?"

"Options are; he's had us tailed, but we would have picked up the hunter"

"True, and even with a sensor, he would still have to recognise all of our chakra signatures"

"Then there's the final option... He has a spy inside the village"

"I know, unlikely as it seems, we still need to conduct an investigation when we get back"

Kiba was stood by the door and listened intently to what his mission leader and second in command were talking about, sighing to himself and dropping his head to the floor with his eyes closed, he joined in the conversation afetr a moment of silence.

"You know he's not going to like that"

Kakashi nodded and stood, "Yes, but there's something else going on" and with that Kiba went back to the room that the male's were using to rest in. Shino remained by the door for another few minutes before standing and heading towards the same room, "They aren't coming back within the next ten minutes" he reported, causing Shikimaru to sigh and pinch the bridge of his nose, his trademark word being used to describe the prankster of their village.

"Troublesome"

* * *

The medical nin within the three man cell looked at her watch, they should have been back at the apartment by now, although everyone on the mission knew that whoever went with Naruto, wasn't sticking to timings and she wanted to find their target almost as much as he did. Said blonde was currently at the head of the squad as they slowly made their way around the forests surrounding the village, the same question running through his head, asking where Sasuke was, as if he was telepathically communicating with the missing nin. No answer was expected and none came, he turned to Hinata as she searched with her byakugan only to watch the heiress shake her head after spending a few minutes of looking.

He sighed, turning away for a moment and scanning the area in front of himself, he made to move off into another area but was stopped by an arm that had grabbed hold of his own. Looking towards the owner, his eyes caught Sakura's who shook her head, knowing he wanted to continue with the search. The medical ninja turned to his girlfriend who was slightly panting, even though her chakra control was one of the best amongst the group she wasn't the limitless jar of chakra that he was.

"It's about time we headed back"

Naruto waited for another moment as Sakura told Hinata they had been out for longer than they planned to be, both women began the journey back to their lodgings as Naruto turned around and followed a short distance behind. Something was wrong with the mission and he could feel it, something was out of place, Sasuke wouldn't just randomly appear in a village and let another ninja recognise him without dealing with the individual and a civilian could be easily misled into thinking he was someone else. Coming to a stop and looking over his shoulder back the way they had just came, he couldn't say why, but he knew that the man was here and not showing himself to them, but the reason as to why he stayed concerned him, for something bad was going to happen. He knew it, Sakura probably guessed so and Kakashi would feel the same way, but none would be able to know what it was until it came.

"What are you up to teme?"

Before being left behind and possibly worrying Hinata, he carried on in the direction that the girls were heading, unaware of the red eyes that watched the jinchuriki sail through the cover within the trees and back to his team.

* * *

**Short chapter to build onto the next, again sorry for the delay but been busy, and sadly having a technical problem in regards to my laptop now having a cracked screen. Luckily I got a blank doc saved and can get on the web with my mate's laptop. Hope you like the chapter and hope no one is too upset that they won't come back to see the next chapter, hopefully should have it done before the end of the year this time (maybe even as soon as April with the rate I'm now smashing these chapters out). As usual, please leave your reviews and opinions about the direction I'm taking and the way I'm portraying the characters and for those that don't know; yes, this is still back to before the fight with Lee and Neji and I'm gonna have to change a small detail in one of the chapters, nothing major, just a timeline change. Thanks for your time, patience and loyalty.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto**

**Ginge**


	9. 9 Enemies revealed

Kakashi looked at the team he was moving with, he had called an end to the mission after the two weeks had expired, sending out his ninken to deliver a message to the Hokage, informing her that they had finished the mission and could not find any trace that the rogue ninja had been at the village. Looking to Naruto, he wondered whether or not the girl that had been added onto their team for the mission had anything to do with his unusual silence, for the blonde hadn't put up a fight for them to return to the village, nor had he stayed out by himself to carry on the search whenever the group was sent out. He knew about their relationship, with being one of the few sensei that still arrived late without a decent excuse for training, he had to check up on his student when he began arriving earlier than him, he hadn't inquired into the relationship, merely let the pair carry on as they were and it looked to be a good thing as well, what with Naruto now eating a little more healthier than he used to. Not even Hinata was going to be able to take Ramen out of his life completely.

Clearing his mind and bringing his attention onto the trip back, he looked behind himself to see Shikimaru's group at roughly twenty five meters behind them, close enough should they need to help repel an attack from the left, right or rear of their mission party. Something still wasn't quite right though, from the first few days at the village he could feel something was off and the feeling hadn't left, instead it had grown stronger with every day that passed and he wasn't the only one that felt it, during the second week he had left with his old students on a search just outside the village area. Naruto and Sakura had both confirmed that they felt something was wrong. Focusing on the team that led the way, consisting of; Kiba, Ino and Chouji he kept his eye open in case something happened.

* * *

He knew it was coming, something that would change him for the worse, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Looking towards Hinata who stuck with himself, Sakura and Kakashi for the return trip, he began to wonder whether or not this change would be something to do with their relationship. How could it? He hadn't done anything wrong as far as he could tell, after all Sakura, Ino or Tenten would have said something before the mission, then what? Confusion was evident on his face for a moment and he knew his girlfriend had seen it, shaking his head and returning to scanning his left he sighed to himself before looking up at the cage within his mind.

"What the hell do you want?"

**"Touchy today are we"**

The demon's smile was enough to make him want to wretch, he hadn't spent much time in here of late and it was something he enjoyed, but why was this adding to what felt wrong? Did it have something to do with the seal? Was it weakening over time and if so, how could he put it off from breaking entirely? The fox laughed, it knew what he was thinking and how would it not, as much as both the entity and it's cage wanted to change it, but they shared the same body and in a way, the same mind, Kurama knew what the blonde would be feeling and could judge exactly what he was thinking by his facial expression, even if had gotten a little harder these days with the woman turning him from the predictable boy to the man who could possibly end the fox's existence.

"Get lost"

**"You'll be begging for me soon enough"**

Naruto started walking away until he heard the snarl from the creature, turning to face it he wondered what was going to happen, if it was bad enough for him to need the chakra of the nine tails then it wouldn't be good, for him or the people around him.

"You know something don't you"

He didn't turn around, the fox smiled but didn't respond to the jinchurikki's statement. Coming out of his mind and back into the real world, the blonde looked ahead to the other team and slowed slightly, ending up behind the two female members of his cell and moving next to the mission leader who looked at his pupil with curiosity, before he could ask what the problem was, Naruto shouted to the team in front.

"Stop!"

The white haired jonin looked to the front team, watching as Ino and Chouji stopped on a tree branch, Kiba however was riding on Akamaru; making him faster out of the entire group. They could only watch as the Inuzuka was thrown from his companion as something collided with the duo, sending the canine into a nearby tree before falling to the ground. Chouji moved quickly to the ground, hoping to get there before Akamaru's body landed and recieved more damage whilst Naruto charged his feet with a little extra chakra and headed towards the tree that Kiba had been sent to. Both ninja made it in the nic of time to stop their comrade's from colliding with the ground or the tree.

Looking up at the person who had suddenly attacked their group, Kakashi noticed a red cloud on the black cloak he was wearing, they had recieved word that Sasuke was part of a team that had joined with Akatsuki, maybe this was one of the members. He didn't recognise the man in front of him, but if the attack on one of his team wasn't enough, the killer intent he was emitting towards everybody else definetly was, making a plan in his head, he stopped when Neji called out to everybody a little behind them.

"Move!"

Grabbing the woman he loved first, he followed Lee in moving closer to the rest of the group in time to dodge the sword that, by now had destroyed the branch they had been occupying. Sakura looked towards the new enemy only to be taken aback at the weapon the person weilded, she hadn't seen it since their first C-rank mission they had undertaken as team 7.

"Kakashi-sensei, that's Zabuza's sword"

Her statement caused the oldest shinobi within the group to turn and inspect their new enemy, it couldn't have been him, he died and they all knew it. Naruto himself was the one who placed the sword on the cliff where it overlooked the bridge, the hood of the attacker came away to reveal a male with white hair, sharp teeth revealed themselves as he smiled at the people who had just dodged the attack. Naruto watched as Kiba stood on his own feet, coming out of the daze he was in, looking over to Chouji who placed Akamaru softly onto the ground.

"Akamaru"

He whispered before looking to his attacker, his teeth grinding within his mouth as he made to launch an attack however, Naruto still had hold of his shoulder and kept him at bat for the moment.

"Not yet"

"He's gonna pay"

Why was he still holding onto his shoulder, how did he know they were going to get attacked, he didn't have the answers yet but he knew something else was coming, looking to Kakashi he followed the older shinobi's line of sight until he caught sight of the weapon. _'That's Zabuza's sword, what the hell is he doing with it!'_ it was the jinchuriki's turn to grind his teeth together, abandoning reason he charged straight for the new attacker, his fist tightening as he got closer, Hinata caught the movement and glanced at her boyfriend until she realised what he was doing.

"Naruto!"

The boy stopped on a branch, even if she had shouted, she didn't think he would have stopped, then her eyes caught the thin line of a shadow extending from his own and turned to Shikimaru. Mentally thanking him she closed her eyes for a moment and activated her byakugan, looking around the area to make sure there were no more surprises that would happen to suddenly attack them; finding nothing she looked to her cousin who had done the same, both looked at their team leader and shook their heads. Kakashi replied in a nod before standing upright and began to address the enemy ninja.

"Who ar-"

"What the hell are you doing with that sword!"

Kiba had joined Chouji on the ground by now, looking over his ninken and making sure there were no serious injuries to his friend whilst the white haired male laughed at the small amount of killing intent that the jinchuriki let flow from himself. His nails began to draw a little blood from his hand, he hadn't realised and didn't bother letting himself relax, he honoured the memory of the first ninja that they had defeated by placing that sword overlooking the man's last resting place, and this prick had seen fit to just take it. The kyubbi smiled to himself, feeling the rage begin to boil his jailer's blood, he remained silent however, knowing something more was about to come, whatever it was, it would tip the scales and more than likely allow him some room to start taking over the boy, if not, then he could use it to start influencing his actions.

"What's it to you?"

The assailant spoke, smirking as the killing intent began to increase in his direction, Hinata looked down to her boyfriend, worrying at his current state. She knew as well as everybody else present he would launch himself at the white haired male, all it would take was for him to push the blonde over the edge a little more, she may not have been on the mission but he had told her about it, and what the weapon symbolised. Returning her attention to the male who attacked first, she saw his face for the first time since her friend had almost been hit, taking note of the different skin tones and orange hair that covered the top of his head before looking at his eyes, noticing something pure evil about the way he grinned, as if he wanted nothing more than to kill everyone in the vicinity.

"Enough talk!"

The man she was looking at shouted before moving to the ground, heading straight for Chouji and Kiba at the base of the tree just to the side of where they had been originally. Neji caught the movement as did Lee and both ninja sprinted toward their comrades whilst Naruto still kept his eyes on the white haired male, relying on the two to make it to Kiba and Chouji in time to aid them, then it came; the bad feeling he had been having since they arrived in the village, the feeling of something bad coming his way.

"Jugo! Stop!"

Silence ensued as the owner of the voice walked casually out in view of everyone present, the man now know to them all as Jugo stopped a few metres above his intended targets. Naruto looked at the male with a mixture of feelings, unsure how to address the man at that moment, at least until he wached his new opponent draw the weapon strapped to his back.

"Sasuke"

"Naruto"

Kakashi looked to his former student's feet, a trick he had asked Guy to help him with, it was only a matter of time he felt until he would have to face the last Uchiha and no matter how well he used his own sharingan eye, he wouldn't be a match for someone who used them on a regular basis.

"Don't look at his eyes"

No one needed reminding about his kekkei genkai, yet all but one decided not to look into their opponents blood red eyes, and with that statement, Sasuke smiled before speaking to his former teacher.

"Too late for one of you"

* * *

**Now with that ends the latest chapter, bit sooner than the previous ones and feel it's a bit short compared to how I wanted it to be but here's to hoping you like it, same as normal rate and review please, after all the more you let me know about your feelings towards the story, the more I try to improve my writing.**


	10. 10 Breaking point

He could hear the fox sniggering every now and then in his head, it only added fuel to the fire, he would do it this time, he would bring Sasuke back to the village, even if it meant in a body bag. The blonde knucklehead was gunning for his old friend and didn't even realise the pair of them were alone, Sasuke had moved him away from the rest of the group, Kakashi's calls to come back hadn't even been enough to turn him around.

"You're blinded by your hope, you can't beat me, loser"

His smile told him how confident he felt on that statement, he wouldn't let him have the satisfaction of winning this one, throwing three of his kunai at the target he gave himselfa moment to conduct his trademark jutsu. The original as well as a clone kept back whilst three of himself attacked Sasuke, the sniggering was just about getting on his last nerves.

_"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!"_

**_"You idiot, you've already lost"_**

Turning his back and bringing himself out of his head, he made another three copies before moving away in order to start collecting nature energy, everything he had would be used in this fight and he knew it, the one thing he didn't want to rely on was the demon. Sitting he tried to clear his head, until the clone next to him burst and he had to dodge a fist, bending backwards, he cartwheeled himself off the branch and kicked the attacker in the jaw, landing in a squat he looked up and saw the Uchiha rubbing his chin.

_'Idiot, it's a simple trick they teach in the academy, just 'cause yours is slightly different'_

Before he could even attempt to think up a tactic another clone came forward, pressing his own attack whilst Naruto moved to dodge and block the strikes aimed for his head. Turning his head for a moment the blonde ninja realised he wasn't moving backwards along the tree branches, instead he was being forced back onto the ground. _'Forget this'_ the next right cross the clone made he reached out for, grabbing his right arm by the wrist and copying with Sasuke's left, spinning the both of them so his opponent's back faced the ground. Double kicking the man's chest to lift himself back into the tree tops and send his friend to the ground, sadly no sooner had he made it half way to the branch wanted to land on than another clone came out of the bushes towards him. Reaching for a branch he gripped hold of it with his chakra and span, holding a leg to slam it down on the top of the clone's head.

Crouching onto the underneath of the branch, he watched the smoke from the small impact clear before finding his attack had been blocked, with no time to press the attack as another clone came for him, Naruto moved higher up the tree, jumping from branch to branch for a moment's respite. Looking down at the area they were in, he counted the clones, trying to block out the chuckling of the beast within.

"Great eleven enemies, and out here on my own"

Kicking himself over the mistake of leaving his team, he felt like shrugging at that moment, it couldn't be helped, or at least that's what he thought before one target made to move underneath the tree he was on. Performing the hand signals he created an equal amount of clones and began to press his attack, looking towards what seemed to be the real deal, he wasn't doing anything apart from smirking at him anyway, it wasn't helping his rage.

"The hell are you smirking at!"

Silence, the only answer he would give and the only answer Naruto should have expected, the rogue ninja wasn't much of a talker even when they were on the same team all those years ago.

**_"Open your eyes boy"_**

_"Will you shut your mouth you overgrown furball!"_

**_"Hehe, that's it boy, get angry, the moment is coming soon"_**

"SHUT UP!"

Bursting forward to the unmoving Sasuke, the blonde took out a kunai and began to press his own attack, slashing without thinking, letting his movements be co-ordinated by nothing apart from his own muscle memory and anger. "You're coming back! Walking or in a body bag, it's your choice!" roaring into the last Uchiha's face provoked nothing, he still kept that smirk as if his face had moulded to it. The blow came out of nowhere, one of the clones had defeated his own and kicked the jinchuriki's face to send him flying to another tree branch, crouching and looking back, the sting helped remind him he wasn't alone in this battle.

"You honestly can't see it... You're still too weak to fight me"

"Who are you calling we-"

The punch caught him off guard, but it felt like nothing, as if the opponent wasn't putting any effort into it, their mistake. Grabbing hold of the clone's arm, he threw them over his shoulder and down to the floor, in time to realise a new clone was coming towards him.

"Snap out of it man!"

The blows weren't even breaking through the quick blocks he threw up in time, and the voice seemed off, what was happening, why was his attacker taking it easy on him. "You're too blind and weak to see it" Sasuke shouted over again, not giving it any more consideration he pushed a kick before lifting his leg up and making an axe kick connect with the clone. Turning on the spot to punch another into the branch they were standing on, where were they coming from, one moment he had his clones fighting these copies and now he was having to defend against all ten attackers.

"STOP MOCKING ME!"

His team mate wasn't taking him seriously, well after this next attack he would, watching a clone help up one of the attackers, he created a rasengan in his hand and fired it towards the pair. Watching it to make sure it hit, his vision blurred for a moment and it looked as if he were actually firing the ball of chakra towards Hinata and Kiba, shaking his head he saw both of Sasuke's clones again until a third pushed the two out of the way, the fox meanwhile driving him to the edge with his laughter inside his head. Taking a step forward and dashing towards two more of the clones who, for some reason, remained in their locations until they split at the last moment before the chakra induced punch destroyed the branch they had been standing on. Feeling the nine tails' chakra begin to flow through him, he threw caution to the wind, no one else was around so it was about time he used his advantage to knock Sasuke down a couple of notches.

_"Oi, fur ball! Rent!"_

The fox was curled up as if he was sleeping, looking as if he was bored already of the boy he was caged inside, sitting up he grinned and turned his back to start sleeping.

_"Fine, I'll take it!"_

With that, the boy moved towards the bars and grabbed a nearby tail, pulling on it and drawing a minor portion of the entities chakra, just enough to give him an edge but not enough to allow the beast to begin to take over his body. The growl he was given was enough to say that he wasn't being ignored, at least not completely. Looking up in the real world again, he pushed off the branch and began to attack one of the clones who seemed frightened. This wasn't right, Sasuke didn't get scared that easily and he had seen the jinchuriki's strength before, when they fought at the waterfall all those years ago. Stopping in mid air when a punch connected to his stomach, the air in his lungs as well as the force he was planning on putting into his next assault suddenly flew from his body when he flew the opposite direction.

"Crap"

Naruto managed to say in between coughs, he was beginning to get tired of fighting all these clones without any idea on where the attacks were coming from, looking at this latest one he noticed one eye was closed before spitting out a slight bit of blood. The punch hit harder than he originally thought, taking a moment to get his breath back, he jumped up to another branch when another clones punch destroyed the entire branch he was standing on a second ago.

_'Damn it Kakashi, where the hell are you and everybody else!'_

Looking behind himself, he began to think, what would Shikimaru do, apart from complain about how troublesome the situation was. Ducking when an open palm came rushing towards his chest, he cartwheeled backwards and kicked the clone in the chin, landing into a stance and ready to defend himself as the person scowled and carried on their assualt.

"Guess you copied that with those stupid eyes of yours"

He'd had enough training sessions with Hinata to know how their style went, they attacked the tenketsu to either disable it against enemies or unleash hidden power within their allies. Moving around the fists and only blocking when he had to, two more attacks came at his arms, it was becoming a little tedious now, why was the clone only attacking his arms and legs? None of this made any sense.

"Naruto, you need to come to your senses, open your eyes!"

Ducking underneath one final blow that was aimed at his chest for once, he span and kicked his opponent's legs from underneath him before jumping over and - without realising - punching the clone with the fox's chakra, sending him down to the ground and breaking the branch. Breathing heavily, he went down to a knee and felt the sweat begin to trickle from his head.

"Time for you to see your-"

Sasuke moved backwards, dodging an open fist strike from one of his own clones, smirking as he watched the mirror of him take it's stance. Naruto looked on in slight bewilderment as the original began to dodge each blow, what was going on? Why was a clone attacking it's own form? Making an attempt to stand, the blonde found he couldn't and looked around to see his own shadow caught by another.

"Shikimaru! Where are you and what are you doing!"

"Stopping you from attacking us!"

_**"Now you shall see, now your mind will surrender"**_

_"Shut your mouth!"_

Looking around, he saw one of the clones performing the genius' signature technique and as confused as he was, began to put the pieces together. The clone with one eye closed, the other who could destroy a branch as wide as a trunk with one punch, the gentle fist style clone, the pair who stayed behind and performed hand seals that didn't do much, as well as one of the best close quarters fghts he had with another clone.

"No"

The whisper came from his mouth as another person jumped in front of him, tapping his forehead as his eyes watched the two Sasuke's fight. The gentle fist style user pushing the original back, whilst he smirked and drew his sword.

"Kai!"

Chakra was pushed through Kakashi's fingers and into the jinchuriki's body, allowing him to see his friends in the places they had either been defeated in or had moved to, with that, Shikimaru released his jutsu, allowing the blonde to drop to his knees. His eyes however remained on the fight, watching the girl he loved fight his rival, until a sword pierced her stomach and came out of her back, the release technique felt like a fly compared to the blow that hit his senses. "No" he whispered again as the fox roared inside his head, Kakashi turned to witness the girl being thrown to the floor.

"SAKURA! GET HER!"

She looked up and moved as fast as her body would allow her, just catching the heiress before she reached the halfway point of the tree. Beginning an examination of the wound and performing a jutsu to seal the wound, Kakashi kept his sharingan on the Uchiha, the strain was becoming apparent on the older ninja but he had to push himself in order to fight a true weilder of the sharingan, otherwise it would be the end of himself, as well as possibly his team. Naruto wasn't moving, his sight merely locked on the body of the girl he was dating, until his teeth ground together and he forced his eyes shut, Lee jumped next to him and attempted to help his friend up onto his own two feet. Before the roar came.

"NOOOOO!"

**_"Now, it is time"_**

Kurama forced his entire body against the bars of his cage, pushing them and the seal to the point of breaking, his chakra flooding the entire chamber that he and the boy's mind sared, he grinned at the broken person in front of him, who looked back with hatred, something the entity knew a thing or two about.

**_"Do you wish to save her?"_**

"Yes!"

**_"What would you give?"_**

"ANYTHING!"

He grinned, he had him, after years of waiting and attempting to break out himself, he would be free.

**_"Then release me!"_**

_"Under one conidition!"_

**_"Name it then boy"_**

Naruto turned, the fox looked up to where he pointed and saw an image of the last Uchiha smirking.

_"HE DIES!"_

* * *

Next chapter: a message to the followers from the author

I do NOT own Naruto or it's affiliations, this story is my own that comes from MY! head.


	11. Message to the followers

This chapter WILL! be deleted prior to the next chapter being uploaded.

This is a message to the fans of this story who carry on to read it and have subscribed to it.

I am sorry, both for taking this long to carry on writing the latest chapter and for making you wait so long between chapters, if the wait means you have to go back and re-read the previous chapters then it makes things more laborious for yourself.

I canot apologise enough for the wait, I would blame it on work and personal dramas but that is no excuse, the simple truth behind it is I became too care free with it, deciding unintentionaly to only come back to this when I was bored, instead of trying to find inspiration at any moment I could and continuing with my typing. Luckily I am in Canada at this moment in time and will be for the next two and a half months, without many distractions and without much else to do. The internet is something I hae (obviously) so hopefully, inspiration and the simple kick up the arse from you guys will make this next chapter come along a lot faster.

Please review previous chapters and let me know where I can improve, after all I am doing this for your benefit and for the benefit of myself to become a better writer, I may not deserve your input with the wait being so long, but in order to continue writing to the best of my ability and to your liking; I need the input and the criticism.

Thank you for your time,

I remain a servant to your imaginations and your cravings for better stories.

Yours sincerely

The lycan


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